29er Ovington Inlands and Harken Grand Prix Round 4 at Grafham Water

Ovington Inlands at Grafham © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

Ovington Inlands at Grafham © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

Fifty 29ers made the trip to Grafham for the Ovington Inland Championships and Harken GP for a weekend of big winds and fast racing. Saturday morning dawned cold and breezy, with winds sitting comfortably above 20 knots and even larger gusts blowing through. The first challenge of the day was simply launching: with such high winds it took a huge effort just to get off the shore. Even the top end of the fleet needed a helping hand to make it off the slipway!

Once over the first hurdle, boats lined up nervously for the first start in a cold breeze that was well into the 25-30 knot range. James Hammett and James Eales sailed an excellent race to cross the line in first ahead of Nick Robins and Billy Vennis-Ozanne. However, Nick took his retribution in the second race of the day, pushing JJ and James back into silver to take the win - with the mixed pair Sarah Jarman and Nick Devereaux following in third position.

After two races, it was becoming increasingly clear that the wind was becoming too much for many to handle and the race officer made the decision to wait onshore for more manageable conditions. Although the decision to fly AP over H was welcomed by many near-hypothermic sailors, it was not to last. After a brief interlude huddled in the warmth of the wet bar, the wind settled sufficiently and the decision was made to resume racing. Despite an attempted mutiny by some of the sailors to steal the D-flag, racing started promptly. Nick and Billy took line honours, followed by Hannah Bristow and Emily Covell to consolidate on their third in the opening race followed by Dan and Fin Armstrong.

Ovington Inlands and Harken Grand Prix round 4 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Sunday dawned cold and cloudy, and it quickly became evident that the strong breezes seen on the previous day were here to stay. Nick and Billy continued where they left off, winning the first two races of the day by a considerable margin. Bobby Hewitt and Matt Leckie took advantage of a right shift to climb to second place in the opening race, and in the following race it was Dan and Fin Armstrong that claimed the second.

On a roll, the Armstrong brothers slipped inside at the final leeward gate to take the win from Nick and Billy in race six. Bobby and Matt sailed a strong final leg to place third in this penultimate race. However, with a scorecard of 2,1,1,1,1,2 Nick Robins and Billy Vennis-Ozanne took the event with a race to spare and (after seeing an opportunity to get in the showers early!) retired early: choosing to watch the final race from the comfort of the warm yacht club instead. With the top boat out of the picture, Dan and Fin grabbed another bullet to finish the day, followed in second by JJ and James and in third by Hannah and Emily.

29er Inland Champions, Nick Robins and Billy Vennis-Ozanne - photo © Paul Hammett

After one of the windiest and wildest weekends in recent 29er history, Nick Robins and Billy Vennis-Ozanne added the title of Inland Champions to their collection, with Hannah and Emily taking first girl team and Sarah and Nick awarded first mixed pair. The Welsh team of Ewan Luke and Zac Blomeley were first juniors. In the overall rankings JJ and James just held out Dan and Fin to take second, who were then followed by the two girl teams Hannah and Emily (in fourth) and Courtney and Hanna (in fifth) to complete the top five.

Ovington Inlands and Harken Grand Prix round 4 prize winners - photo © Andre Ozanne

Overall Results: